APPARATUS FOR REMOTELY REBOOTING VoIP COMMUNICATION DEVICES AND AN ASSOCIATED METHOD AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT

ABSTRACT

An apparatus is provided for remotely rebooting Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) communication devices. In general, the apparatus remotely selects VoIP communication devices connected to a network, reboots the selected devices, and evaluates the status of each device. A processor allows a user to select VoIP communication devices connected to the network and receives inputs pertaining to the reboot operation, including a time input and search criteria. The processor communicates with the designated VoIP communication devices over a packet-switching network to instruct the devices to reboot and monitors each device. In this way, multiple VoIP communication devices may be rebooted from a remote location, and problems or issues that arise during the reboot process may be identified and addressed. An associated method and computer program product are also provided for remotely rebooting VoIP communication devices.

BACKGROUND

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is a method for converting analogaudio signals, such as voice signals, into digital data that can betransmitted over a packet-switching network. In contrast, Time-DivisionMultiplexing (TDM) is a method for transferring data as sub-channels inone communication channel. In contrast with a TDM system, in which afixed number of channels with a constant bandwidth per channel are usedfor circuit mode communication, a VoIP system routes the data in packetsalong different paths, rather than one dedicated path.

VoIP telephone systems are becoming more prevalent in enterprises,replacing typical TDM telephone systems. In particular, largeenterprises with multiple distributed facilities may find huge costbenefits from transporting voice traffic over the existing data networkinfrastructure through VoIP. In addition to simplified infrastructure,VoIP also presents other advantages over traditional telephone systems,such as the ability to manipulate the voice data and to use a VoIPtelephone in multiple locations having access to the network.

VoIP telephone systems also present unique challenges in comparison totraditional telephone systems. VoIP devices generally require moremaintenance and monitoring than typical TDM devices. For example, VoIPtelephones may need to be rebooted periodically to clear an errorcondition, re-register with the network, or download updates from acentral server.

In a large enterprise distributed across multiple sites, the seeminglysimple task of rebooting VoIP devices may involve large logisticalcosts. For example, if the enterprise chooses to have the users of eachVoIP device perform the reboot periodically, such as at the end of eachday, the enterprise may have to send out periodic reminders or holdtraining sessions to educate the users on how to perform this function.Some users will likely forget or choose not to perform the reboot, whichmay result in problems with the operation of the devices, requiring thetime and effort of skilled technicians to resolve.

Even if the users do reboot the devices, many of the users may choose toperform the reboot at the same time, such as the end of the work day,placing a large load on the network as the rebooted devices attempt tore-register themselves with the network. In addition, any problemsexperienced during the reboot operation may be met with frustration bythe user, who will have to call a technician to resolve the problem.Alternatively, even greater costs may be incurred by requiring numeroustechnicians at each site to manually reboot the VoIP devices, forexample by going to each device, turning it off, then turning it onagain.

Thus, there is a need for remotely and efficiently rebooting multipleVoIP communication devices in a way that does not overwhelm the network,allows for reboot operations to be scheduled in advance, and monitorsthe condition of the device before and after the reboot is executed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S)

FIG. 1 is a schematic representation of one embodiment of an apparatusfor remotely rebooting VoIP communication devices;

FIG. 2 shows an example of a screen listing sensed VoIP communicationdevices and associated information generated by execution of a computerprogram product in accordance with one embodiment;

FIG. 3 shows an example of a search criteria input screen generated byexecution of a computer program product in accordance with oneembodiment;

FIG. 4 shows an example of a time input screen generated by execution ofa computer program product in accordance with one embodiment;

FIG. 5 shows an example of a confirmation screen generated by executionof a computer program product in accordance with one embodiment;

FIG. 6 shows an example of a report screen generated by execution of acomputer program product in accordance with one embodiment;

FIG. 7 shows an example of an e-mail report generated by execution of acomputer program product in accordance with one embodiment;

FIG. 8 shows an example of an exception report screen generated byexecution of a computer program product in accordance with oneembodiment;

FIG. 9 is a flow chart illustrating embodiments of a method of remotelyrebooting VoIP communication devices; and

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of one embodiment of an apparatus forremotely rebooting VoIP communication devices.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Exemplary embodiments now will be described hereinafter with referenceto the accompanying drawings, in which exemplary embodiments andexamples are shown. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout.

Apparatuses and methods for remotely rebooting Voice over InternetProtocol (VoIP) communication devices are provided in accordance withvarious exemplary embodiments. In general, apparatuses and methods aredescribed for remotely selecting VoIP communication devices connected toa network, rebooting the selected devices, and evaluating the status ofeach device. The apparatuses and methods may be used, for example, inconjunction with or in addition to the apparatuses and methods providedin U.S. Ser. No. ______, entitled “Apparatus for Remotely ManagingNetwork Elements of a VoIP Communication System and an Associate Methodand Computer Program Product” (Verizon Reference Number 20060246), filedconcurrently, the content of which is incorporated by reference hereinin its entirety.

A processor allows a user to select VoIP communication devices connectedto the network and receives inputs pertaining to the reboot operation.The processor communicates with the VoIP communication devices over apacket-switching network to instruct the devices to reboot and monitorseach device. In this way, multiple VoIP communication devices may berebooted from a remote location, and problems or issues that ariseduring the reboot process may be identified and addressed.

Referring to FIG. 1, the apparatus 10 comprises a processor 12configured to receive inputs from a user and to communicate with aplurality of VoIP communication devices 20 over a packet-switchingnetwork, such as the Internet, in accordance with the inputs. Theprocessor may be a microprocessor, a personal computer, or any othercomputing device capable of performing the functions subscribed to theprocessor hereinbelow. The VoIP communication devices 20 may be locatedremotely from the apparatus 10 and from other VoIP communication devices20. For example, the apparatus 10 may be located in a technology officein a building in one state, while the VoIP communication devices 20 maybe located across several offices in the same building and in otherbuildings in various other locations.

The processor 12 is configured to receive at least one input designatingat least one of the VoIP communication devices 20 connected to thenetwork and to instruct the designated VoIP communication devices 20 toreboot based on the input. The input may be received by the processor 12via an input device 14, such as a keyboard, as shown in FIG. 1, or amouse. For example, a user, such as a technician, may provideinformation to the processor 12 designating one or more connected VoIPcommunication devices 20 by typing an identifying name or number of thedevice using a keyboard.

Alternatively, the processor 12 may be configured to sense the VoIPcommunication devices 20 connected to the network, obtain informationassociated with each of the devices 20 sensed, and store a list of thedevices 20 sensed along with the associated information. For example,the processor 12 may transmit signals 13 over the network requestingidentifying information from the VoIP communication devices 20 connectedto the network. Based upon the identifying information provided by theVoIP communication devices 20, the processor 12 may display the list ofsensed VoIP communication devices 20 and the associated information on ascreen of a monitor 16, as illustrated in FIG. 2. The information may bearranged in any manner, and the arrangement of the information may beconfigurable by a user as necessary. For example, the processor 12 maydisplay the information in the form of a table 30, displaying an entry32 for each sensed device 20. Alternatively, a VoIP communication device20, similar to a conventional telephone, may have more than oneavailable “line” for communicating with other communication devices. Inthis case, the processor 12 may be configured to display an entry 32 foreach line of each sensed device 20.

In the case where the processor 12 displays the VoIP communicationdevices 20 sensed, the processor 12 may receive an input selecting oneof the displayed devices to be rebooted. For example, the processor 12may generate a window 34 to display a table 30 of VoIP communicationdevices 20 and associated information on the screen of the monitor 16and allow the user to designate one or more of the devices 20 by puttinga checkmark in a checkbox associated with each device 20. Or, theprocessor 12 may allow the user to highlight one or more entries 32associated with a VoIP communication device 20 using an input device 14,such as a mouse.

The associated information obtained, stored, and/or displayed by theprocessor 12 may describe various aspects of the VoIP communicationdevices 20. For example, the associated information may include thefirst and last name of an associated user of the respective device 20,physical location of the device 20 (e.g., room number, department,building), Media Access Control (MAC) address, designation of the lineor lines associated with the device 20, label, telephone number,Internet Protocol (IP) address, Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)registration information, device or other identifiers, configurations,phone logs, hardware and software descriptions, and any otherinformation capable of being associated with the device 20 andtransmitted to the apparatus 10.

The processor 12 may also be configured to receive and respond to asearch criteria input provided by a user. For example, the processor 12may generate a window 34 on the screen of a monitor 16 displayingvarious fields 36 that may be filled in by a user via an input device 14to provide criteria for a search, as shown in FIG. 3. The processor 12may then use the criteria provided to search the entries 32 forinformation regarding the VoIP communication devices 20 that matches thecriteria provided and to display the results of the search. For example,a user may enter the telephone number of a VoIP communication device 20of interest in a field marked “telephone number” 38. In response to theinput of this criteria, the processor 12 would search the informationpreviously obtained and stored and would display the entry 32 or entriescontaining the telephone number specified in the search.

The processor 12 may also provide a field 40 for inputting multiplecriteria at one time. For example, if a user is searching for ten VoIPcommunication devices 20 with known MAC addresses, the MAC addresses forall ten devices 20 may be entered in the field 40, and the devices 20matching the search criteria would be displayed. As previouslymentioned, any of the information captured by the processor 12,including the location, associated user, telephone number, IP address,and MAC address of the VoIP communication device 20 may be used assearch criteria.

The reboot operation may be executed by the designated VoIPcommunication devices 20 at the time the devices 20 are designated, orat a later time according to a time input provided by the user. Thus,the processor 12 may be configured to receive a time input to define atime to reboot each designated VoIP communication device. For example,the processor 12 may display a screen 42 as shown in FIG. 4 with fieldsfor receiving a day 44 and time 46 for executing the reboot operation.The screen 42 may be displayed, for example, after the VoIPcommunication devices 20 have been designated to receive rebootinstructions. Once a user has defined a time for the reboot operation tobe executed, the processor 12 may store the information for rebootingeach designated VoIP communication device at the defined time. In thisway, at the time specified by the user, the processor 12 will cause thepreviously designated VoIP communication devices 20 to execute thereboot operation automatically, without further input from the user.

The processor 12 may be configured to allow multiple reboot operationsto be scheduled for various VoIP communication devices 20. For example,one batch of VoIP communication devices 20 may be scheduled for rebooton one day, another batch may be scheduled for the following morning,and another batch for the following afternoon. The processor 12 may beconfigured to display a list of the scheduled reboots on the monitor 16and may also be configured to receive a cancellation input deleting oneor more of the scheduled reboots. In this way, a technician, forexample, may be able to view a list of the VoIP communication devices 20scheduled to be rebooted. In this example, the technician may thendelete half of the VoIP communication devices 20 included in the firstbatch scheduled to be rebooted, for example, and reschedule the rebootoperations for another time, if necessary.

The processor 12 may similarly provide a confirmation to the user thatthe reboot has been scheduled. An example of a reboot confirmationscreen 48 is shown in FIG. 5. The reboot confirmation may be displayedby the processor 12 immediately following the scheduling of a rebootoperation, or the confirmation may be provided in the form of an e-mailor text message. The confirmation may include various informationregarding the scheduled reboot operation, which may include aconfirmation number 50, the date and time the operation request wassubmitted 52, the time scheduled for the reboot operation 54, and theVoIP communication devices 20 involved, along with the associatedinformation for those devices 20.

The processor 12 may also be configured to stagger the reboots of theVoIP communication devices 20, for example when more than a certainnumber of VoIP communication devices 20 are to be rebooted at the sametime. For example, a technician may designate 100 VoIP communicationdevices 20 to be rebooted at midnight. However, the network supportingthe VoIP communication devices 20 may only be capable of allowing fiftyVoIP communication devices 20 to register on the network at any giventime. In this example, an attempt by more than fifty VoIP communicationdevices 20 to register simultaneously may result in failed registrationsby some or all of the registering devices 20. Thus, the processor 12 maybe configured to delay the reboot operation of some of the scheduledVoIP communication devices 20 to allow time for the first devices 20rebooted to register themselves on the network before rebooting the nextbatch. In the previous example, although 100 VoIP communication devices20 were scheduled to be rebooted at the same time, 12:00:00 A.M., theprocessor 12 may be configured to reboot one device 20 every 18 secondsbeginning at 12:00 A.M., thus evenly distributing the reboots over a30-minute period. In that way, the 100 devices 20 should not overwhelmthe network of this example with simultaneous requests to registerfollowing the reboot operation.

The processor 12 may be configured to notify a user that a rebootoperation is starting. For example, a technician may schedule a rebootoperation to be executed by fifty VoIP communication devices 20 at6:00:00 P.M. on the following day. The processor 12 may be configured tosend the technician who scheduled the operation, or another techniciandesignated by the scheduling technician, a notification when the rebootoperation is about to begin. For example, the processor 12 may generatean e-mail, text message, or voice message that is sent to the recipienttechnician at 5:55:00 P.M. informing the technician that the rebootoperation on the designated VoIP communication devices will begin infive minutes. The processor 12 may also send the notification to eachuser associated with the VoIP communication device 20 scheduled to berebooted. For example, the employee associated with a particular VoIPcommunication device 20 may be notified as to when the reboot operationis scheduled to begin so that the employee is not surprised by theexecution of the operation or does not plan to use the device 20 at thesame time the operation is to be executed.

The notification may include a simple statement identifying thescheduled reboot operation and the time the operation is to be executed,or the notification may also include details regarding the VoIPcommunication devices 20 that were designated for executing the rebootoperation and provide the recipient of the notification with furtheroptions. For example, the notification may provide a recipienttechnician the option of canceling the scheduled reboot for all listedVoIP communication devices 20, deleting one or more of the devices 20scheduled to execute the operation, or designating additional devices20. As another example, a notification sent to the employee associatedwith one of the scheduled VoIP communication devices 20 may provide theemployee the option of canceling the scheduled reboot for his or herparticular device 20 if, for example, the employee wishes to avoidinterruption of an important business call that is to take place duringthe scheduled time.

In some embodiments, the processor 12 may be configured to detect andreport a condition of the VoIP communication device before and/or afterthe reboot is executed. The processor 12 may, for example, detect andreport whether a particular VoIP communication device 20 is connected tothe network, whether any errors are detected in the device 20, and, ifso, what kind of errors are detected. For example, the processor 12 maybe configured to communicate with the VoIP communication devices 20scheduled to be rebooted prior to the rebooting, such as five minutesbefore the devices 20 are rebooted. Similarly, the processor 12 may beconfigured to communicate with the VoIP communication devices 20 afterthe reboot operation is executed, for example five minutes after thereboot operation is executed. The report containing the conditionsdetected, before or after the reboot, may be displayed by the processor12 as another screen 56, illustrated in FIG. 6, or the report may be inthe form of an e-mail 58 or other message that is sent to a designatedrecipient, illustrated in FIG. 7.

The processor 12 may also be configured to generate an exception report60 listing any of the designated VoIP communication devices 20 that didnot successfully execute the reboot operation, as illustrated in FIG. 8.In this way, a technician, for example, may analyze the devices 20failing to reboot in an attempt to resolve any problems. In addition toor instead of generating an exception report detailing the VoIPcommunication devices failing to reboot, the processor 12 may beconfigured to again attempt to reboot the designated, but un-rebooted,VoIP communication devices 20 automatically in an attempt to rectify thesituation. The processor 12 may be configured, for example, to attempt ascheduled reboot operation three times before notifying the technicianthat the reboot failed.

In other embodiments, a method for remotely rebooting VoIP communicationdevices 20 is provided. Referring to FIG. 9, at least one VoIPcommunication device 20 that is connected to a network, such as aprivate IP network or the Internet, is initially sensed. An input isthen received designating one or more of the VoIP communication devices20 sensed to be rebooted, and a reboot signal is transmitted to thedesignated devices 20 instructing each device 20 to reboot. See FIG. 9,blocks 100-104.

As the VoIP communication devices 20 are sensed, information associatedwith each VoIP communication device 20 that is sensed may also beobtained. Such information may include the physical and network locationof the device 20, the associated user, the IP address, and the telephonenumber, among many other items of information. A list of the VoIPcommunication devices 20, as well as the associated information, maythen be displayed, for example in tabular form in a window displayed ona monitor. See blocks 106-110.

The VoIP communication devices 20 that are sensed, along with theassociated information for each device 20, may be stored for laterdisplay, as shown in block 112. A search criteria input may be received,and the VoIP communication devices 20 and associated informationmatching all or part of the search criteria may then be displayed. Seeblocks 114-116. For example, a technician may provide a search criteriainput of a particular department of an enterprise in which the VoIPcommunication device 20 is located. As a result, any VoIP communicationdevices 20 that are listed as located in the particular departmentshould be displayed, along with the associated information for each ofthe VoIP communication devices 20 returned by the search.

In addition to inputs designating the VoIP communication devices 20 tobe rebooted and specifying search criteria, other inputs may also bereceived. A time input may be received defining a date and a time totransmit the reboot signal. For example, a technician may schedule areboot operation to be executed by designated VoIP communication devices20 at a later time, rather than immediately following the designation ofthe devices 20. In this case, an input defining the date and time totransmit the reboot signal would be received, and the reboot signalwould be transmitted to the designated VoIP communication devices 20 onthe defined date at the defined time. See blocks 118-120.

In the case that multiple VoIP communication devices 20 are scheduled tobe rebooted at the same time, or multiple batches of VoIP communicationdevices 20 are scheduled to be rebooted at different times, a list ofthe scheduled reboot transmissions may be displayed, as shown in block122. Such list may include the VoIP communication devices 20 designatedto receive the reboot signal transmission, information associated witheach device 20, and details of the scheduled operation, such as the dateand time of the operation and the user requesting the operation. Also,an input from a user, such as a technician, may be received to cancelone or more of the scheduled reboot operations. See block 124. Forexample, one or more of the previously designated VoIP communicationdevices 20 may be removed from the list of devices to execute a rebootoperation, or a reboot operation scheduled to be executed by an entirebatch of devices 20 may be cancelled.

Furthermore, a condition of the VoIP communication devices 20 designatedto be rebooted may be sensed before the reboot signal is transmitted andafter the reboot signal is transmitted. See blocks 126-128. Conditionsthat may be sensed include whether a VoIP communication device 20 isconnected to the network, whether the device 20 is in use, and whetherany errors are associated with the particular device 20, such as afailure to register with the network. By sensing one or more of theseconditions before and after a reboot signal is transmitted to aparticular device 20, a technician, for example, may be able to observethe effects of a reboot operation on the device 20 and potentiallydiagnose any failures or errors associated with the reboot.

If the reboot operation was not successful or an error was sensed aftertransmission of the reboot signal to a particular VoIP communicationdevice 20, the reboot signal may be re-transmitted automatically to thedevice 20 which failed to reboot. See blocks 130 and 104. A rebootoperation may fail for various reasons, such as a failure of thetransmission to reach the designated device 20, or an error condition ofthe device 20 itself causing the device 20 to fail to execute the rebootoperation despite receiving the signal. If the reboot signal was nottransmitted the first time, or was improperly transmitted, thenre-transmission of the signal to the particular VoIP communicationdevice 20 may result in the execution of a successful reboot operationthe second time, relieving a technician, for example, oftrouble-shooting the error and manually attempting to retransmit thereboot signal. Re-transmission of the reboot signal may be attemptedmore than once following the first failed reboot, depending on theconfiguration of the apparatus 10.

The transmission of the reboot signal to the designated VoIPcommunication devices 20 may occur generally simultaneously with auser's designation of the devices 20 to be rebooted, or at a later timeas defined by the time input received, as previously discussed. However,if more than a certain number of VoIP communication devices 20 aredesignated for reboot at the same time, the transmission of the rebootsignals may be staggered automatically to prevent unnecessary loading ofthe network as the devices 20 attempt to re-register on the networkfollowing reboot. See block 132.

For example, a network may only have the capacity to handle requestsfrom fifty VoIP communication devices 20 to register on the network atany given time. In that case, a designation of more than fifty devices20 to be rebooted at the same time may result in the transmission beingstaggered such that some of the designated devices are rebooted first,and others are rebooted at intervals following the first batch,providing time during those intervals for the first devices rebooted toregister with the network. Continuing the previous example, if onehundred VoIP communication devices 20 are designated to receive a rebootsignal, and the network capacity for registration is fifty devices 20,transmission of the reboot signals may be staggered such that thesignals are transmitted to one device 20 every 18 seconds, therebyevenly distributing the reboots over a 30-minute period. In this way,the VoIP communication devices 20 should not make simultaneous requeststo register with the network, and the network should not be overwhelmed.

Finally, a result of the reboot operation may be reported to adesignated user, such as the technician who scheduled the reboot, asshown in block 134. The report may be generated automatically as ane-mail, text message, or other form of notification and may containvarying levels of detail regarding the operation. For example, thereport may provide a list of the VoIP communication devices 20 that wererebooted, the number of unsuccessful reboot attempts, and the date andtime of any successful reboots for each device 20.

It is understood that the operations described for the illustratedmethods of FIG. 9 may be performed through hardware, software, orcombination thereof. Therefore embodiments may take the form of hardwaresystems and/or apparatuses, software, or combinations thereof. As anexample, embodiments may include a computer program product thatincludes a computer-readable storage medium (e.g., memory) and one ormore executable portions (e.g., software) stored by thecomputer-readable storage medium for performing the operations describedherein upon execution thereof. Referring to FIG. 10, for example, theexecutable portions may be stored in a memory 17 of the apparatus 10such that the processor 12 may access and execute the executableportions of the computer program product in order to perform thefunctions described herein including, for example, those depicted inFIG. 9.

In the preceding specification, various embodiments of the claimedinvention have been described. It will, however, be evident that variousmodifications and changes may be made thereunto without departing fromthe broader spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the claimsthat follow. The specification and drawings are accordingly to beregarded in an illustrative rather than restrictive sense.

1. An apparatus comprising: a processor configured to receive inputs andto communicate with a plurality of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)communication devices over a packet-switching network in accordance withthe inputs; and wherein the processor is configured to receive at leastone input designating at least one of the VoIP communication devices andto instruct the designated at least one VoIP communication device toreboot in response to the at least one input.
 2. The apparatus of claim1 wherein the processor is configured to sense the VoIP communicationdevices that are connected to the network, obtain information associatedwith each VoIP communication device sensed, and store a list of the VoIPcommunication devices sensed and at least some of the associatedinformation.
 3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein the processor isconfigured to display the list of sensed VoIP communication devices andto receive an input designating at least one of the listed VoIPcommunication devices.
 4. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein the processoris configured to receive a search criteria input, search the list ofsensed VoIP communication devices according to the search criteriainput, and display a result of the search.
 5. The apparatus of claim 4wherein the search criteria input comprises at least one criterionselected from the group consisting of a location, an associated user, aphone number, an Internet Protocol address, and a Media Access Controladdress of the VoIP communication device.
 6. The apparatus of claim 1wherein the processor is configured to receive a time input to define atime to reboot each designated VoIP communication device and to storeinformation for rebooting each designated VoIP communication device atthe defined time.
 7. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein the processor isconfigured to display a list of scheduled reboots and to receive acancellation input deleting at least one of the scheduled reboots. 8.The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the processor is configured to staggerthe reboots of a plurality of VoIP communication devices.
 9. Theapparatus of claim 1 wherein the processor is configured to notify auser that the reboot is starting.
 10. The apparatus of claim 1 whereinthe processor is configured to detect and report at least one of thegroup consisting of a condition of the VoIP communication device beforethe reboot is executed and a condition of the VoIP communication deviceafter the reboot is executed.
 11. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein theprocessor is configured to attempt to reboot the VoIP communicationdevice a subsequent time if the initial reboot is unsuccessful.
 12. Amethod comprising: sensing at least one Voice over Internet Protocol(VoIP) communication device connected to a network; receiving an inputdesignating at least one of the VoIP communication devices sensed toreboot; and transmitting a reboot signal to the at least one VoIPcommunication device designated to instruct the VoIP communicationdevice to reboot.
 13. The method of claim 12 wherein sensing the atleast one VoIP communication device comprises obtaining informationassociated with each VoIP communication device sensed, displaying a listof the VoIP communication devices sensed, and displaying at least someof the associated information.
 14. The method of claim 13 furthercomprising storing the list of VoIP communication devices sensed and atleast some of the associated information, receiving a search criteriainput, and displaying any VoIP communication devices and at least someof the associated information according to the search criteria input.15. The method of claim 12 further comprising sensing a condition ofeach VoIP communication device designated before transmitting the rebootsignal and sensing a condition of each VoIP communication devicedesignated after transmitting the reboot signal.
 16. The method of claim15 further comprising re-transmitting the reboot signal if the conditionsensed after transmitting the reboot signal meets a predeterminedstandard.
 17. The method of claim 12 wherein receiving an inputcomprises receiving a time input defining a date and a time to transmitthe reboot signal and transmitting the reboot signal at the defined dateand time.
 18. The method of claim 17 further comprising displaying alist of scheduled reboot transmissions.
 19. The method of claim 17further comprising receiving an input to cancel a scheduled reboottransmission.
 20. The method of claim 12 wherein transmitting a rebootsignal comprises staggering the transmission of the reboot signal to thedesignated VoIP communication devices.
 21. A computer program productcomprising a computer-readable storage medium having computer-readableprogram code portions stored therein, the computer-readable program codeportions comprising: a first executable portion for sensing at least oneVoice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) communication device connected to anetwork; a second executable portion for receiving a designation of atleast one of the VoIP communication devices sensed to be rebooted; and athird executable portion for transmitting a reboot signal to the atleast one VoIP communication device designated to instruct the VoIPcommunication device to be rebooted.
 22. The computer program product ofclaim 21 further comprising a fourth executable portion for storing alist of VoIP communication devices sensed, obtaining informationassociated with each VoIP communication device sensed, storing a list ofat least some of the associated information, receiving a search criteriainput, and displaying any VoIP communication devices and at least someof the associated information according to the search criteria input.23. The computer program product of claim 21 further comprising a fourthexecutable portion for sensing a condition of each VoIP communicationdevice designated before transmitting the reboot signal and sensing acondition of each VoIP communication device designated aftertransmitting the reboot signal.
 24. The computer program product ofclaim 23 further comprising a fifth executable portion forre-transmitting the reboot signal if the condition sensed aftertransmitting the reboot signal meets a predetermined standard.
 25. Thecomputer program product of claim 21 further comprising a fourthexecutable portion for receiving a time input to determine a date and atime to transmit the reboot signal; a fifth executable portion fortransmitting the reboot signal at the determined date and time; and asixth executable portion for staggering the transmission of a pluralityof reboot signals to a plurality of designated VoIP communicationdevices.